Went looking for Fatwood today

[Rupestris]

FatWood. Seems I missed the "w"

I'd posted before that I'm lucky enough to have a good size piece of land behind work. I went out today looking for Fatwood at the old pine farm end of the property. The trees there are old White pines. The soil is quite damp and has a thick bed of pine needles that seem to retain much of the moisture.

There are plenty of trees taken out by storms but most of the stumps are rotten and crumble when you try to break a piece off.

Higher on the hill near the tree line the pickings seem to get better. Here are a few pics I took today.

Outside the treeline.

Canopy.

Interior.

This stump was partially "harvested" by my BK7 a week or so ago. I thought I should share with the folks here.

Even this sorry excuse for a pine had potential. It had three trunks extending from the base. The two larger pieces were dead and stripped of almost all remaining branches. The tallest being about 15' in height.

Cutting into the bark of the piece that stood about 5' tall, about 3' from the ground revealed a nice amber colored, resin soaked fatwood haul.

I've found that some of the store bought fatwood is a bit more resinous and harder than what I've found here. While its softer and slightly lighter in color, it still has enough resin to make it worth looking for.

I took a small piece out with me today but left the mangled pine standing. When the Becker Campanion pass-around blade gets here, I'll get some pics of it eating some fatwood..

Thanks for looking,

Chris

 

[kgd]

Nice pictures Chris. Your pictures are helpful for me as we share some common constraints in the amount of pine trees that are found around these parts. Looks like you struck gold, or err amber! Love those Alox Sak's - my soldier is my constant companion here in Dubai! Keep those posts coming.

 

[Rupestris]

Nice pictures Chris. Your pictures are helpful for me as we share some common constraints in the amount of pine trees that are found around these parts. Looks like you struck gold, or err amber! Love those Alox Sak's - my soldier is my constant companion here in Dubai! Keep those posts coming.

Thanks K. If I collect this before you get back, you're more than welcome to swing by on your way home from the airport and take some home.

 

[Bushman5]

OOOOOH look at all those pines!

 

[Rockywolf]

Excellent find. I love that wooded area! Right next to where you work? Dang, I'd be there a LOT.

 

[Rupestris]

Excellent find. I love that wooded area! Right next to where you work? Dang, I'd be there a LOT.

Every lunch hour. Rain or shine.

Here's the view looking away from the pines

Off to the right, behind the Sumac, in the first pic is DeHoCo (Detroit House of Corrections) and Phoenix Womens Correctional Prison. I hike the property in full view of the watch towers without any problem. A lot of the locals snow mobile and off road on the property on the week ends. During the week its a quiet break from work.

Yep. I'm a lucky boy.

 

[Mistwalker]

FatWood. Seems I missed the "w"

I'd posted before that I'm lucky enough to have a good size piece of land behind work. I went out today looking for Fatwood at the old pine farm end of the property. The trees there are old White pines. The soil is quite damp and has a thick bed of pine needles that seem to retain much of the moisture.

There are plenty of trees taken out by storms but most of the stumps are rotten and crumble when you try to break a piece off.

A lot of times with those rotten stumps there is a really hard really rich core down beneath the surface sometimes nearly a foot....it can be worth checking into at times.

 

[Joezilla]

The quality of lighter knot is determined by the soil it comes from. Trees that grow in sorry, cruddy dirt produce fatwood that doesn't burn as hot. Its usually brighter yellow. The good stuff is more orange in color, and smells like turpentine BIG TIME.

The tree trunk part splits easier than the roots.

 

[Mistwalker]

The quality of lighter knot is determined by the soil it comes from. Trees that grow in sorry, cruddy dirt produce fatwood that doesn't burn as hot. Its usually brighter yellow. The good stuff is more orange in color, and smells like turpentine BIG TIME.

The tree trunk part splits easier than the roots.

Thanks...had never stopped to consider the soil but you're dead on about the smell and the roots, but the roots can sure have a lot of pich in then. Whole stumps of this stuff will make a great signal fire even in a lighter rain....just knock off the rotten part and expose the inner "meaty" part first before you pile them up and stand back a bit from the heat and the big collumn of thick black smoke it will produce. on a not so windy day that collumn of smoke can be seen from a long way away.